This application claims priority to an application entitled xe2x80x9cMethod for Reducing Power Consumption of Radio Terminalxe2x80x9d filed in the Korean Industrial Property Office on Nov. 13, 1998 and assigned Serial No. 98-48579, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for controlling power consumption in a radio terminal, and more particularly, to a method for minimizing power consumption in a non-service area by altering a receiving period of a paging message.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are two ways to lengthen the lifetime of a battery in a radio terminal. First, increase the capacity of the battery, and second, reduce the rate of power consumption in the mobile phone. Since increasing the capacity of the battery usually entails increasing the weight of the phone, the latter alternative is more attractive.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,590,396 discloses a method for saving battery power by turning off power supplied to a specific part of the mobile phone for a predetermined period of time if a user enters a page only mode. Unfortunately, this method requires the user to change the mode into a paging only mode manually. While the base station is informed of the start time and end time of a page only mode, the radio terminal can only get a paging message generated during the page only period. There is an additional drawback associated with this method. Namely, this operation is available only within a service area.
Once a radio terminal enters a non-service area, it continues to check an RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) measurer to see if it is possible to provide services. Thus, if the radio terminal enters an extensive non-service area or stays in a non-service area for a long time, power is consumed to determine whether services are available. Furthermore, since the radio terminal enters an idle state, power is unnecessarily dissipated. When the user finally enters a service area and tries to use the radio terminal, the battery may have already been discharged and the phone rendered inoperable.
In a conventional radio communication system, a base station continuously transmits a paging message to a radio terminal for a predetermined period of time so that the terminal can receive the message even if it temporarily enters a non-service area or if it instantaneously misses data. Unfortunately, the radio terminal continues to check whether there is a paging message. Although the terminal can adaptively receive the paging message, it continuously checks whether there is a paging message irrespective of an RSSI level or an error in data. This consumes power unnecessarily.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a method for minimizing the power consumption of a radio terminal in a non-service area.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for automatically reducing power consumption in a non-service area.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method for reducing the power consumption of a mobile terminal.
To achieve these and other objects of the present invention, there is provided a method for reducing the power consumption of a radio terminal having the steps of: First, setting a receiving period to a minimum period value if power supplied to the radio terminal is turned on; Second, receiving data and determining whether a bit error occurs; Third, determining whether the receiving period is less than or equal to the minimum period value if the bit error occurs; Fourth, decreasing the receiving period if the receiving period is greater than the minimum period value; Fifth, determining whether the receiving period is greater than or equal to a maximum period value if no bit error is detected; Sixth, increasing the receiving period if the receiving period is less than the maximum period value; Seventh, turning off power supplied to at least one component of the terminal during the set receiving period if the receiving period is less than or equal to the minimum period value or if it is greater than or equal to the maximum period value; and Eighth, turning on the power supplied to the at least one component of the terminal if the receiving period has elapsed; and Finally, returning to the step of receiving data.